If you teach a child to read
You’ve handed him an envelope
And inside there’s a ticket to all corners of the world
To tropic island, ancient cities, to icebergs and to sandy deserts
To castles and to days gone by, to lands they’ll never see
This is what you’ve given when you teach a child to read
If you teach a child to read
You’ve granted her an interview
A time to talk with people who have somehow shaped the world
To Socrates and Martin Luther, Mother Teresa, Tiger Woods
You can introduce them if you please
This is what you’ve given when you teach a child to read
Little marks on bits of paper, keys that open treasure chests
Signs that point us to the truth, and help us all to be our best
If you teach a child to read
You’ve handed them some candlelight
A way to travel safely in the way they ought to go
A sense of time a sense of place, the way of Love, the way of Grace
The way to find the Life that’s life indeed
That is what you’ve given when you teach a child to read